


(One Wrong Move) Triggers the Web

by orphan_account



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Flashbacks, M/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2017-12-26 16:12:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“He’s begging me to touch him, Harry! I can’t touch him, Harry!” Louis tugs at his own hair in a desperate attempt to relieve some of the ache.<br/>Harry wants to reach out and hug Louis and promise that it’ll be okay, but touching Louis is a bad thing to do indeed, “Lou, you know what happened last time.”<br/>“Of course I fucking know!” Louis sobs, hands scrabbling at his neck. “I watched Eleanor lose her mind! I made her lose her mind!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Louis

**Author's Note:**

> So wow okay. I'm attempting this chaptering thing. This fic is so angsty and is going to be very confusing initially, but things will make sense, I promise!  
> Special thanks to my betas [Sophie](http://ashtonsexgod.tumblr.com/) and [Dylan](http://shouldabeenablowjob.tumblr.com/)!  
> [my tumblr](http://twitcamniall.tumblr.com)

***5 Years Ago***

“You look stunning tonight, Eleanor,” seventeen-year-old Louis says as he takes Eleanor’s hand and kisses it.

She giggles lightly, “Thank you. Where are we going?”

Louis ducks his head, “Just to the diner, but we're staying out until midnight. I'm kissing you on my eighteenth as soon as it happens."

"I feel quite honored," Eleanor accepts his offered hand and lets him lead her to his car.

"After you," Louis says as he opens the door and shows her inside. She sits down primly and buckles her seatbelt, smiling at Louis.

"Louis Tomlinson! I expect you back shortly after midnight otherwise Father Christmas won't come!" Jay calls as Daisy peers innocently between her legs.

"Of course Mum," Louis waves as he gets in the car, rolling down Eleanor's window to address Daisy. "Don’t worry, I'll tell Father Christmas all about the doll set you want if I see him!"

"Have fun!" Jay waves them down the driveway and Louis puts his hand on Eleanor's knee, lightly squeezing.

"Are you ready for the best night of your life?" he asks, grinning like mad.

Eleanor threads her fingers through Louis', "Ready, set, go."

***

They’re stumbling down the street; drunk on exhaustion and the thrill of being together in the dark of the city.

Eleanor leans close to him to whisper in his ear, “Guess what.”

Louis turns to her with a wide grin and the pupils of his blue eyes blown wide from excitement, “What?”

“Three more minutes and then you’re going to be an old man,” Eleanor says as slides her fingers into Louis’ hand. She starts swinging them between the two as they continue down the street.

“You forgot the cane,” he teases causing Eleanor to blush lightly under the streetlights. Louis preens a little knowing he can still make her blush like that, even after a year of being together.

“Guess you’ll just have to lean on me then,” Eleanor looks up as a white snowflake falls from the sky and alights on Louis’ nose. “One minute.” Louis gazes into her eyes and brushes a brown curl away from her face as his palm fits over her cheek, bringing her in to press his mouth against hers. Snowflakes catch in Eleanor’s eyelashes. She closes her eyes and they touch Louis’ cheekbones. It’s cold but it’s perfect and it’s just so them.

The kiss lasts for five seconds and then their perfect moment falls apart in Louis’ hands.

Eleanor breaks off the kiss as midnight ticks onto Big Ben in the center of London. She clutches her head and falls to her knees, a terrible scream rising from her throat.

“El?” Louis is frantic, patting her down trying to find out what the hell is wrong with the love of his life. “Eleanor!?” Eleanor keeps screaming, repeating no over and over again. It’s driving terrifying needles into Louis’ mind as he tries to help his girlfriend.

“Eleanor please tell me what’s wrong.”

“No, no, please, no!” Eleanor shouts curling into herself. Louis brings his hands to his chest and she immediately stops, whimpering quietly instead.

“Eleanor?” Louis asks trying to reach out again.

Eleanor flinches back. “No! No! Bad!”

Louis draws his hands back again. “El?”

Eleanor sits up, her mascara running down her cheeks. “You’re the man with the piano. The man who took her away.”

“What are you-?” Louis shakes his head, breaking off midsentence. “Eleanor, I’m Louis. What happened?”

“Stay away from me piano man,” she spits getting up with lurching movements and heading towards the brightly lit part of the city.

“Eleanor!” Louis calls. He wants to chase after her, to find out what just happened as he belatedly realizes that he’s finally eighteen and absolutely utterly alone.

***

“Lou, did you drop Eleanor off at her house?” Jay greets Louis at the door with a smile, the plate of cookies he has to eat that the girls left for “Father Christmas” in her hand.

Louis shakes his head, still in shock. “She- I don’t know…” Louis reaches for the cookies and Jay watches him, as he doesn’t come anywhere near touching her.

“Louis, what happened tonight?” Jay tries to keep her voice controlled, but concern for her son makes it waver with worry. Her immediate fear is Eleanor has been kidnapped or Louis is being held hostage and has been instructed to lead her away from her daughters so she can be killed.

Louis drops the cookie he’s holding and looks up at his mother, “I’m a monster. I must be. I touched Eleanor and she- she started screaming. Mum I don’t know what to do!”

Jay puts the plate down. Louis steps back as she goes to grip his shoulders, hands coming to touch only air, “Where is Eleanor?”

“I don’t- I don’t know. Mum, there’s something wrong with me. I’ve done something horrible! She called me the piano man, she hasn’t called me the piano man since- since her mother left,” Louis whispers. “She knows, Mum. When I touched her, she knew.”

“Get inside,” Jay steps back watching Louis enter the house. “Sit down, I’m calling the police.”

“Don’t,” Louis states harshly. “Do not call the police. You call the police and they’re going to call me insane and I’m going to get carted away. So do not phone the police.”

“Then what would you like me to do?” Jay asks, hands on her hips. “Because the girl I thought for sure was going to become my daughter-in-law is missing and my son is telling me that he drove her to the point of insanity through _touch_. Louis, forgive me if I’m wrong, but you sound utterly mad.”

Louis runs up the stairs as Jay watches with wide eyes. “I’ll be right back,” he calls. Louis tosses a few shirts and some trousers into a bag, hoisting it over one shoulder as he bounds back down the stairs. “I’m leaving.”

Jay shakes her head, “You can’t just leave, Louis. You have a problem then fix it, don’t run.

Louis grips the strap of his bag, “I’m sorry Mum. Tell the girls I love them and that they’re going to do great things one day.”

Louis bites his lip, looking back one last time at his home and the only life he’s known, “I love you Mum. Please don’t come looking for me.” He shuts the door and Jay follows him to the window, placing a hand on the glass. She mouths something to him, but she can’t follow. She has four young girls sleeping upstairs who need her.

Louis runs down the street, out of the city, and far away from his previous life.

***

The now homeless eighteen-year old passes out on the side of the road like some bum, which he supposes he is now. After a night of running he couldn’t last any longer. The road was closer than any rest place and cheaper too. He has no idea what to do now, he’s lost, he’s homeless, he’s utterly fucked in other words. He needs to make a list of things he knows. Right. One: he’s actually mad, people don’t touch other people and make them go mad. Two: he just ran away from his family because that made more sense than trying to figure this out with his mother. Three: he is now eighteen, lost, and single.

Four: Eleanor knows that her mother leaving had more to do with Louis than he ever let on.

He remembers the day she left, Louis was ten years old and playing piano in her dining room. Eleanor’s mother was Louis’ piano teacher when he first moved to her neighborhood. That day she was nervous, hands shaking as she instructed Louis on how to play a new song.

_“Are you alright, Missus Calder?” Louis asked carefully._

_“I’m fine, love, maybe it’s time you go home,” Eleanor’s mother stood up and extended a hand to Louis. He got off the piano bench and gathered his books._

_“See you next Saturday?” he watched her warily._

_Missus Calder shook her head, “No, my dear, now go.” She propelled him to the door and Louis glanced back at her house as she slammed the door. A little girl with wavy brown hair perched on a tree branch eyes trained on Louis._

_“Hey, piano man!” she called. “Why are with my Mummy?”_

_Louis smiled at her, “She’s teaching me how to play piano!”_

_Eleanor’s head whipped towards the house as a shriek escaped from the upstairs window. A small piano came hurtling out of the window and crashed to the ground bursting apart._

_Eleanor’s mouth fell open, “Mummy!”_

_Her mother came running out of the house with wild eyes, past Eleanor as her eyes landed on Louis, “Do not ever touch her.”_

_Louis followed her path down the street as his own mother scooped him off the street and into their home. Within hours Missus Calder was detained and Louis was none the wiser as to what had just occurred._

Louis rubs a hand over his face before succumbing to the need to sleep. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows exactly what Missus Calder meant when she said to never touch her.

***

He comes to from soft voices above him.

“Are you sure?” an Irish voice asks.  “Niall, we’ve been tracking this line for two weeks. I think I fucking know if it’s him or not,” a weary voice snaps at Niall.

“But you said we can’t touch him so how the hell are we supposed to get him anywhere?” the same Irish voice demands, he supposes that’s Niall.

“I have no clue.” The other sighs before speaking. “His line led me here so we obviously need him! And before you ask, it’s purple.”

Louis slowly cracks an eye open to the bright sunlight. “Who the hell are you?”

“Niall Horan and Harry Styles. Who are you?” Niall raises an eyebrow, appraising Louis.

“Louis Tomlinson. Don’t touch me,” Louis shrinks into himself as Niall steps forward.

Harry glares at Niall, but addresses Louis. “Ignore him, he’s difficult. Can you walk? We need to get you back to the car. And I- er- know about your little problem.”

Louis gets up with some difficulty and staggers to their car. “How do you know about me?” Louis questions.

Harry smiles gently as Niall gets in the driver’s side and starts speeding down the road. “I see fate lines, I know everything about you Louis. Niall corrects things. Zayn- well, you’ll meet him. We’re part of an elite group of people. You’re special Louis, you’ll see.”

Louis watches the scenery flash by as he embarks on his new beginning.

Harry tenses in front of him for a moment before Niall lays his hand over Harry’s, “Did you get something?” Niall’s voice is soft when addressing Harry, different now that the other boy seems to be in distress.

Harry looks back at Louis, “She was found. The local hospital is admitting her.”

Louis bites his lip and closes his eyes, “Is she okay?”

“She’s not hurt,” Harry’s voice is soft.

Louis tilts his face up and feels hot tears building behind his eyelids. He is a monster, that is painfully evident now.

***

Jay sits in a chair by the window as she hears her daughters getting up and running down the stairs on Christmas morning. Her eyes are red and puffy, her fingers wrapped around an old photo album of her only son.

“Mum!” Daisy cries happily. “Father Christmas came!”

“Yes he did,” Jay’s smile is watery.

Charlotte looks in the kitchen and back at the living room, “Where’s Lou?”

Jay puts a hand to her mouth, eyes squeezed shut tight, “Don’t worry about him, loves.”

Charlotte climbs in her mother’s lap, hugging her tightly. She doesn’t understand, but she knows Jay would tell her if she needed to know. Jay wraps her arms around Lottie choking on another sob. She begs whoever is listening to see Louis to safety.

 

***Now***

“His fate lines have changed,” Harry tells Niall.

“What do you mean?” Niall ask as he listens for any sound from Louis’ room, checking to see if he has successfully sobbed himself to sleep.

“His red line used to be severed.”

“And now?”

“It leads to the mystery kid.”

“Can fate lines do that?” Niall asks, raising both eyebrows. “I thought the point of fate was that it can’t be changed.”

“Do we really live in a normal time, Niall?” Harry asks, running his hand through his hair. “I think it’s the beginning of the end.”


	2. Zayn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn about Zayn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to my betas [Sophie](http://ashtonsexgod.tumblr.com/) and [Dylan](http://shouldabeenablowjob.tumblr.com/)!

Zayn knows many things, but one thing in particular stands out to him. Their so-called “powers” manifest at different ages and change with each passing year. Some changes are small, like Niall’s ties to Harry now that they had accepted their fate. But some are much bigger, like Louis’ sudden inability to touch on his eighteenth birthday.

He also knows that his sister and mother were taken by the government when he was a small child because of this transformation in humans. Zayn isn’t entirely sure why humans have been gaining these “powers”, but by logical deduction he can assess that it terrifies the government.

Zayn glances at the heart monitor he has set up on this mystery boy Harry found. His skin is crawling with Gaelic script that keeps changing without any real purpose that Zayn can see. He lets his thoughts wander as he checks the security cameras on the compound. He wonders where his younger sisters and father are at this moment. His sisters are probably running from slave catchers and his father is probably hiding from anti terrorist groups that went insane when the American government lost their place as the world’s highest superpower. It took three years for everything to begin to descend into anarchy, and that was only the beginning.

_Zayn ran past his mother, shouting that Mister Parker down the street was going to catch him._

_“Zayn Malik, stop running in this house!” she shouted, hands on her hips as she glared at him._

_“But Mum, he’s going to catch me!” Zayn protested as Tricia caught him and held him away from the ground._

_“Pray tell, why is he chasing you?” Tricia demanded._

_Zayn bit his lip and looked at his sneakers. “I told him he was wrong about his plants and he got mad because I pulled ‘em up to move ‘em.”_

_“Zayn, you don’t know anything about plants, of course he’d be angry.” Tricia sighed, calculating how much it would probably cost to replace Mister Parker’s plants. She put Zayn down and reached for her house phone to call the man. She didn’t get to, however, because just then there was a knock on the door._

_Tricia answered the door to be greeted by a furious Mister Parker. “Dean, I’m terribly sorry Zayn did that, you know how children can be.”_

_“Your son is a freak,” Parker spat. “He shouldn’t know half the things he knows. Keep him away from my home.” He stalked down her porch and Tricia furrowed her eyebrows. Zayn was intelligent, yes, but he wasn’t overly smart. “Zayn?”_

_“Is he going to catch me and take me away?” Zayn poked his head around the edge of the doorway._

_Tricia squatted.“Come here, please.” Zayn walked over to his mother and let her take his hands. “Zayn, can you tell me what I should do with my mums?”_

_Zayn slowly nodded.“You have to put them in direct sunlight and water them well everyday, but not too much because they don’t like that. And if some of the flowers die, take them off to keep the plant healthy.”_

_Tricia nodded, she knew all that after researching extensively.“How do you know that?”_

_Zayn shrugged and kicked his shoe against the floor.“I dunno, I just do.”_

_Tricia took a deep breath and stood up. “Go play.” She pushed Zayn towards his bedroom and sat down at her kitchen bench. So her son was also showing signs of a power of sorts, just like Doniya, though hopefully not as destructive._

_***_

_When Yaser got home from work that day Tricia made sure the kids were occupied while they discussed the next course of action._

_“Zayn is like Doniya,” Tricia stated._

_Yaser inhaled sharply. “What did he do?”_

_Tricia shook her head quickly. “No, no, he just-- he has a lot of knowledge on things he shouldn’t.”_

_Yaser nodded. “Has Doniya done anything recently?”_

_“No, but she is getting bored with being in the house all day, and I’m afraid Dean Parker knows that they’re not normal and, Yaser, you’ve seen the news, you know what the government is doing to children like them!”_

_Tricia allowed her husband to draw her onto the couch and rub her shoulder soothingly._

_“They’re going to be okay. Doniya will learn how to not burn things, and Zayn will have to learn how to keep quiet.” Yaser shushed her when she tried interrupting. “How about Waliyah and Safaa?”_

_Tricia shook her head gratefully. “Nothing.”_

_***_

_A week later Tricia opened her front door to men in suits with dark sunglasses._

_“Where are your children, Missus Malik?” the larger man questioned briskly._

_Doniya appeared behind her. “Mummy?”_

_“No, Doniya!” Tricia shouted, trying to get her to leave, to run away, but her daughter only cocked her head at her. Tricia put her hand on the door, hoping to slam it in the men’s faces. It would give her just enough time to grab Doniya and run, they might be able to get somewhere safe even if meant leaving Zayn and the others behind. Without warning one of the other men easily knocked Tricia to the ground and grabbed Doniya. Her daughter shrieked and kicked at the man trying to place her hands on him. With a bored air he simply hit her firmly in the jaw knocking her unconscious._

_“Doniya!” Tricia cried holding her side where the man knocked her over._

_“Your son, Missus Malik,” the lead man stated firmly._

_Tricia bit her lip. Zayn was at a friend’s house for the day. She had two options: try to pocket dial Yaser and stall the men, or give herself up to protect her son. She had no time to think about it._

_“Zayn isn’t anything special, I-- I told him those things, but I--” She swallowed dryly. “I control water.” She glanced at her clock once and was almost happy to see the time before making a vague gesture at where her sprinkler lie. Almost immediately a gush of water shot out of the ground and the third man seized her, shoving her in next to Doniya. She tried to reassure her daughter that everything would be okay, but she wasn't too sure herself._

_***_

_Danny’s mother smiled at Zayn. “Darling, wasn’t your Mummy supposed to come get you by now?”_

_Zayn shrugged and looked up from where he was playing with Danny. “Maybe she got busy and couldn’t come.”_

_“I’m going to phone her..” Miss Riach picked up her phone and frowned when she got an out-of-service tone. “Zayn, was she going out today?”_

_Zayn shook his head. “No. Maybe you can call Dad.”_

_Miss Riach tried Yaser and let out a grateful sigh when she got him. “Yaser, Tricia was supposed to be by to pick up Zayn, but she hasn’t come and I can’t get ahold of her and I’m concerned.”_

_“I’m leaving work now; I’ll pick up Zayn and let you know what’s going on with Tricia, alright?” Yaser assured her that everything was fine and came by twenty minutes later to get Zayn._

_“Tricia!?” Yaser called when he got inside his house. “I got Zayn, where are you?” When no reply came, he put Zayn in the living room and checked the house, but found it empty. Doniya was gone too which concerned Yaser. Waliyah and Safaa were with their grandmother for the weekend, but Tricia not leaving any notes was worrisome._

_“Dad? Where’s Mum?” Zayn asked, looking too young in the doorway. “Is she gone?”_

_“I don’t know, Zayn.” Yaser picked up his phone and began calling everyone he knew._

_***_

_Waliyah and Safaa played together in their room while Yaser answered questions about Doniya and Tricia to the police._

_“Do you know why they would go missing?” the first officer asked._

_Yaser began to get angry with the men who only asked him unintelligent questions. “If I knew that I wouldn’t have called you, now would I?”_

_“We’re sorry, sir, but we have to cover all the facts,” the second officer stated as his cellphone rang. “Hello? Yes, sir. Okay, sir.” He shut off his phone and fixed Yaser with a weird look. “Your wife and daughter are fine, but they will not be returning home.” He made a vague gesture at his partner and the two left abruptly, leaving Yaser gaping and his heart aching._

_“Zayn, come here.” The now completely confused and hurt man gathered his son in his arms and held him tightly. “You have to promise me something.”_

_“Yes, Dad?”_

_“You have to be quiet now, all the time, okay?” Something niggled in the back of Yaser’s mind that all of this had something to do with Zayn and Doniya’s new abilities._

_“But why?” Zayn cocked his head, adorably confused._

_“Just please promise me, okay?” Once his son nodded Yaser put him down and called his mother to set up a time for her to bring the girls home and so they could discuss what had happened._

_Zayn went to draw in his bedroom, but his mind was focused on what his father had said._

Yaser had explained as Zayn got older what he believed to be the problem, but by his thirteenth birthday Zayn’s deduction techniques were so far advanced he figured it out for himself. By his sixteenth birthday Zayn was living by himself trying to hide from the government as the remaining pieces of his family went into hiding away from him. He told them he didn’t want them to be in danger because of him, so they left him alone.

After a year of being alone, Zayn’s hovel of a home was stumbled upon by a young lad named Harry, and the two of them created the center. They built it from the ground up, allowing solace to those the government were hunting.. He also got a chance to learn more and to begin speaking again, refining his “power” and teaching Harry about his.

The door opens and shuts, so Zayn looks up as Niall walks into the lab.

“Can I help you, Niall?” he asks, shaking his foggy memories from his mind.

Niall shrugs and sits down.“What if Louis isn’t broken?”

“What do you mean?” Everything about Louis indicates something going wrong in his transformation.

“I mean, these 'powers' don’t really seem to be straightforward so he might not actually be broken... Harry doesn’t think he’s broken.” Niall sits forward and puts his elbows on his knees. “I usually want to touch things to fix them if they’re broken, but I can't with him.”

Zayn runs a hand through his hair.“I believe Louis will always be our enigma. I think it’s more important that we figure out this kid.” He gestures to the boy asleep in the center of the lab.

“He’s definitely not broken,” Niall assures Zayn, standing up. “Calum said he wanted to talk to you, by the way.”

Niall leaves and Zayn hits a few buttons on his laptop to adjust the temperature of the room where the boy sleeps, hoping a slightly cooler temperature will cause him to wake up faster. He also pages Calum, letting him know he can be heard.

Calum enters the room and hands Zayn a packet of papers. “Lists of people recently marked disappeared. They’re getting closer, Zayn.”

Zayn flips through the packet. “Guess we’ll have to stop them.” He notices Calum playing with the hem of his shirt. “Are you alright?”

Calum shrugs. “Luke’s getting worried about the proximity and Louis is really projecting tonight.” He gestures at the boy in the center of the room. “And he’s pissed. I didn’t know people could be that angry while sleeping.”

Zayn now notices the tension in his muscles and the way his fist keeps twitching every so often. “Picking anything else up from him?”

Calum shakes his head. “That’s a negative, just a lot of anger... Anyway, I should probably get going and you should head to bed soon. It’s late.”

Zayn claps him on the shoulder, “Thanks, Cal, give Luke a hug from me.” Calum turns to leave. “And, hey, you’re a good kid, okay, don’t forget that.” Calum raises an eyebrow at Zayn, but leaves anyway as Zayn powers up the higher level security and makes to head to his room.

***

That night Zayn lies awake thinking over the things he absolutely knows and what he still has yet to figure out. When he finally turns over and closes his eyes to let sleep claim him, his thoughts drift to his mother and where she may be and just why she sacrificed herself for him all those years ago.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? [My tumblr](http://twitcamniall.tumblr.com)


	3. Harry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's learn about Harry and the government. If you recognize any concepts, they were borrowed from Stephen King's "Insomnia".

“His fate lines have changed,” Harry tells Niall.

“What do you mean?” Niall asks as he listens for any sound from Louis’ room, checking to see if he has successfully sobbed himself to sleep.

“His red line used to be severed.”

“And now?”

“It leads to the mystery kid.”

“Can fate lines do that?” Niall asks, raising both eyebrows. “I thought the point of fate was that it can’t be changed.”

“Do we really live in a normal time, Niall?” Harry asks, running his hand through his hair. “I think it’s the beginning of the end.”

Niall rubs the back of his neck; “I’m heading to bed- come whenever you want.” He kisses Harry’s cheek, hands lingering on his chest before he walks off, head down and thoughts calculating.

Harry continues in the opposite direction, towards the atrium where things are the most open and his mind can wander without encountering fifty billion fate lines.

Fate lines are not supposed to change, they never do. It’s a fact Harry’s known since he discovered this ability to see and manipulate fate lines. Suddenly the little golden scissors sit in his pocket feel heavy and terrify him.

The memory of the light that fled from the guard’s eyes filling his mind. In a way the loss of life is like breaking a bone. It comes quickly and seems to last forever while it’s there, but the next second it’s over and done with, only to come back later and maybe more horrible the next time. His hands are clammy against his slacks, his breathing slightly labored, his mouth dry. Thunder booms overhead and the atrium is suddenly plunged into bright light as lightning strikes outside. He feels like Doctor Frankenstein.

_Harry sat on the floor trying to catch the string swinging from his mother’s skirt, but to no avail._

_“Mum!” Harry cried. “Your skirt is coming apart!” At ten-years-old and being the baby, he expected his mother’s complete attention._

_“Harry, what are you on about?” Anne sighed turning her head to check the bottom of her skirt. “There’s nothing there. Now can you let me finish folding your laundry?” Anne shook her head at him. “Go play in your room please. And leave Gemma alone!” Harry rolled his eyes at his mother before heading to his bedroom. Sitting on the desk directly in his line of vision were a small pair of golden scissors. He poked them quickly before withdrawing his hand and looking around. If Gemma saw him touching them she would yell and then Mum would come in and Harry would be in trouble. And if Mum saw then Harry would definitely be in trouble._

_...But the blades shone in just the right way and they were sitting on Harry’s desk, so obviously they were his. His hand snaked up to grab the scissors and a small piece of paper fluttered to the floor. In fancy script that Harry could barely read were the words_ ‘Use Them Wisely’. _Glancing around once again he slipped them in his pocket and sat down on his bed with a book. His mother never had to know._

_***_

_For five years nothing changed. Harry still occasionally saw strings hanging from people, but nothing more. He carried the scissors everywhere and if he ever forgot them they always showed up somewhere so he could carry them again. On September 13th 2009, however, things quickly progressed._

_Harry was sitting in school and his eyes slipped shut for a second. As soon as he opened them the room was crossed with red ribbon, extending from everyone’s pinkies and outward. A few strings stretched just across the room, connecting two students, but some stretched as far as Harry could see. He sat straight up and looked around wildly. Mouth dropping open he watched as a line broke here or one was formed there. Some lines were a dull color but others were vibrant and thrumming with life._

_“Sir?” Harry called out. “Where did the lines come from?”_

_“Mister Styles, are you feeling alright? There are no lines.” The teacher shook his head before continuing on with the lesson._

_Harry glanced around at his classmates expecting to see smirks and people holding back laughter because this was obviously some elaborate joke or demonstration. Upon closer inspection the other students were only eying him weirdly. To them there were no strings, no lines, no nothing. The scissors in his pocket felt hot against his skin and he almost wanted to pull them out and snip the middle of one of those threads, but he resisted and sat through the rest of class._

_***_

_His mother took him to get his eyes checked and Gemma looked at him like he was crazy, but Harry saw the lines! He saw them extending here and there and it was overwhelming and terrifying because no one else saw them._

_“His eyes are fine, Anne, I would suggest you get his...uh...here.” Doctor Lydia handed Anne a business card for a psychologist. They were off to another doctor, another lack of an explanation, and another sleepless night for Harry._

_***_

_The psychologist spent a year trying to get him admitted to a mental institution while Harry researched the lines. Apparently red lines tied to pinky fingers meant the “red line of fate”- the soul mates line. He liked to stare at his own line and daydream about his soul mate when his mother wasn’t watching him like a hawk._

_He was sitting on his couch when he heard the conversation that would have sealed his fate._

_“You think it’ll help him?” Anne’s voice was barely above a whisper. A pause. “Will we be able to visit him?” A pause. “But a mental hospital, really?”_

_That was all Harry had to hear before he was in his bedroom packing a bag. He packed the essentials including photos of his family. The scissors still sat in his pocket and he wondered yet again what they were for and if they had anything to do with his ability to see fate lines._

_As Harry went to leave, a note sitting on his desk for his mother, Gemma stopped him._

_“Hey, kid.” She tried to casually punch his shoulder before wrapping him up in her arms. “Don’t get killed out there, okay? You have a lot of potential.” Gemma was silent after that, just hugging her brother one last time._

_Harry cleared his throat, which suddenly felt thick. “Make sure Mum knows I love her.”_

_“Sure thing.” Gemma pulled back and wiped at her eyes, cuffing Harry again when he finally turned and got ready for his tomorrow._

_***_

_Harry had figured out that purple lines meant friend and someone important in one’s life. He followed a purple line for two months before finding Zayn. The older boy was camped out in a dingy shack with his own powers to contend with._

_“What if there are more people like us?” Zayn asked as they figured out where they could get jobs without being questioned and how to hide from the government. “I mean I had to run because they wanted to detain me because apparently we’re the coming of the apocalypse. And you had to run because they assume you’re crazy. So what if there are more?”_

_Harry bit his lip. “The government tried to detain you? You never told me that.”_

_Zayn lifted a shoulder. “They took my mother and sister. I guess some people high up think that our appearance signals the coming of the apocalypse, so they’re rounding everyone up and destroying them. I don’t know what it does, but it makes them feel better.”_

_“That’s awful!” Harry exclaimed. “How do- were you there?”_

_“No.” Zayn shook his head. “But I figured it out.” He went quiet for a bit. “So, what about others?”_

_Harry deliberated it for some time. “We could build a high security building and have people train there, and ya know- learn their powers.”_

_“We need money for that and no jobs we can actually get are going to pay for something like that,” Zayn explained._

_“But you’re smart,” Harry said. “You could hack the system, get us money, and get it all set up. Zayn, together we can do this!”_

_Zayn smiled at Harry and squeezed his shoulder. “Let’s do this.”_

Harry found out a year after that just what those scissors did. The white line is the life force that comes from the top of head and above, with each passing year it shrinks until there’s nothing left and the person dies.

When Zayn was in the middle of transferring a huge bank account to theirs someone stumbled in. Harry grabbed the scissors, expecting to just deter them, but when they came near the life force it was so easy to just close them over the white string and _poof_.

It was his first kill. It was not his last.

***

Harry watches rain slide down the dome of the atrium and slowly takes a step back, deciding to head to bed. He yawns and drags a hand over his eyes. Sleeping has slowly gotten better with Niall, but it’s still not ideal.

He passes Zayn on the way to bed and they nod at each other. After the first few years of the set-up they drifted apart, to their separate jobs, but maintained their friendship and the knowledge that for a while the other was the only thing they had.

Harry washes his face before bed and slides out of his slacks. He climbs in next to Niall and the older boy snuffles in his sleep before bringing his arm around Harry and holding him in place.

“Thank you,” Harry whispers as his eyes slip shut and his breathing synchronizes with Niall’s.

***

Back in the laboratory where the mystery boy sleeps Louis creeps to the window and presses his palms against the glass. It’s cool and doesn’t budge the way human contact does and it kind of makes his heart ache, but he can watch the boy and feel a connection. His hands itch with the urge to touch him, but he knows he can’t. Knows that it will destroy the boy.

“Lou?” A phantom Eleanor reaches out and touches his shoulder. He jerks out of his translucent touch with a hiss.

“Get out of here, leave!” Louis shouts and before he knows it Harry is back again, bags under his eyes dark.

“There’s no one there, Louis,” Harry sighs and gently points towards the hall where his room is. “Go back to bed. How did you get out of your room this time?”

“Zayn’s windows aren’t high security,” Louis grumbles looking back once at the slumbering boy.

“You went through the window!?” Harry rubs his forehead. “And then got back in here without triggering the alarms?”

Louis shrugs, “I dunno.”

Harry opens his door and adjusts the security settings on Louis’ room, “Try to sleep Louis. Please.” He watches Louis get into his own bed before locking the door again and heading back to bed.

“He’s like a child,” Niall mutters as Harry curls up against him.

“He’s hurt, Niall,” Harry points out sharply.

Niall rubs Harry’s back. “You know I want to help him more than anything, right?”

Harry sighs, “I know, I wish- Louis’ been dealt a hard hand.”

“But he’s a gambler, he can do it,” Niall yawns. “Sleep, c’mon.” Harry breathes Niall in deep as he drifts off to sleep.

***

The boy in the laboratory curls his hands into fists. Blind, white-hot fury builds in him. He can see the light just above this darkness as he pulls himself free of it. Soon.

***

Calum sits up in bed and looks down at his hands, which ache with tension, despite not being tense. Anger builds in him and he feels the urge to make someone hurt, make someone pay.

“Whazzit?” Luke rolls over and puts a soothing hand on Calum’s.

“Nothing,” Calum mutters lying back down and trying to sleep, but the fury builds and he’s losing himself.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? [My 1D blog](http://twitcamniall.tumblr.com)


	4. Niall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's learn about Niall. Important: this story takes place in 2015 and once we get into the meat of things, we’re back-tracking just so you know. Nothing yet, but yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I had to change the year because I am bad at basic math. Anyway, special thanks to [Dylan](http://creepyblowjobs.tumblr.com/)

Niall puts another piece of equipment that his hands have fixed down and sighs, long and low. Calum’s not talking about anything, Louis’ going insane, Zayn’s plotting, the kid in the lab isn’t waking up, and Harry’s running himself dry.

“Y’alright?” Luke questions, messing with a compass in zero gravity. “You seem lost.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Niall mutters. “Everything is just kinda heavy at the moment, innit?”

“Yeah,” Luke agrees. “Hey, I gotta go help Cal with something, think you can hold down the fort?”

“And just what were you doing earlier?” Niall teases. “Yeah, I’ve got it.” Luke turns the gravity back on in the part of the lab he was messing with a compass in and waves to Niall as he leaves.

Niall picks up a gun, turning it over in his hands and marveling over the flawless correcting he can do. The ease of it all amazes him. It always kind of has.

_Sean giggled from high above Niall. “Catch me if you can!”_

_“Get down!” Niall cried. “You’re going to fall and hurt yourself and my Mum will be really mad about that!”_

_Sean stuck his tongue out at Niall and began his slow descent to the ground. Or it would have been slow had he kept his feet on the branches and actually climbed down, but one wrong misstep and he was suddenly plummeting to the ground._

_“Sean!” Niall screeched, scrabbling down the oak after his friend. “Sean!”_

_“Oww!” Sean whimpered, lying on his back with his hands wrapped around his ankle. “Ow, Niall, go get your Mum!” There were tears in his eyes and Niall didn’t know what to do. “Get your Mum!”_

_Niall stepped closer to Sean and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Where does it hurt?”“My ankle!”_

_“I’m gonna touch it, okay?” Niall leaned forward till his fingertips brushed just above where Sean’s hands were clasped around his ankle._

_“No, that’ll hurt more!” Sean cried. “Just get your Mum!”_

_With an ease his eight year old fingers were not used to, Niall pried Sean’s hands off and layed his own hands over the swelling flesh. Warmth flooded through his hands and then Niall was lifting them up and Sean was staring at him, a mixture of awestruck and kind of scared._

_“What did you just do?” Sean whispered. “Why doesn’t my ankle hurt anymore?”_

_Niall bit his lip. “I don’t know, but please don’t tell my Mum, okay?”_

_Maura came to her back door and looked at her son and his friend. “Is everything okay out here?”_

_“Yep!” Niall answered quickly. “We’re just playing!” Sean nodded his ascension and Maura moved back inside._

_Sean never said a word to Maura, and for eight years everything was okay._

_***_

_Niall discovered on his sixteenth birthday that his ability to heal people also spanned to fixing material things. No one knew about what he could do except Sean and Niall intended to keep it that way. Right up until he put his hands on his chemistry teacherwho had accidentally set his sleeve on fire, and the fire disappeared and the fabric mended itself and his teacher’s burns all healed._

_“What are you?” his teacher hissed, eyes wide with a fear unknown to Niall._

_“I-” Niall bolted from the classroom with all of the student’s eyes were on him. Sean followed despite the teacher’s orders to stay in the classroom as he made a phonecall to the principal. By then some people had been informed of the “strange” children cropping up around the world. The ones with abilities no one should possess._

_“Niall!” Sean shouted. Niall looked back for a second, but kept running. He needed to get out of the school, needed to get somewhere safe._

_“Niall, wait!” Sean panted behind him. Niall ran out of the school grounds and back to their old hangout spot behind Niall’s house._

_Sean collapsed on the ground next to Niall, holding up a finger to signal that Niall needed to wait a second so they could talk about this._

_“I have to leave,” Niall said quietly. “This isn’t normal, I’m endangering all of you. I’m sorry.”_

_Sean sat up and heaved a few more breaths before finally speaking. “London. Go to London, there’s a place there for people like you. I heard my dad talking about it with his coworkers.” Sean’s dad worked for a law firm, so of course they would know about something like that. Sean reached in his pocket and handed Niall a wad of cash. “Get to London and find Zayn Malik. Thought you might need this.”_

_Niall stared at the money for a bit. “Where did you get this?”_

_“Stole it from my dad, he’ll never notice.” Sean ran a hand through his hair. “Promise me you’ll be okay.”_

_“I promise,” Niall muttered. Sean pulled him in for a hug and held on for a bit longer than was strictly necessary._

_“I’m going to miss you,” Sean gave him one last squeeze._

_“Make sure my mum doesn’t go crazy, okay?” Niall stood up and offered a hand to Sean._

_“Okay,” Sean nodded closing his eyes as Niall ran off again so he wouldn’t have to see his best friend leave him for the last time._

_***_

_The motel was cheap and kinda sleazy, but it was place to crash until he found Zayn Malik and it was mostly warm. It was also two years to the day since running away on his sixteenth birthday. Jobs had been odds and ends of fixing things and a brief stint making coffee._

_Niall was trying to locate someone, anyone who could give him any sort of information in the city when his whole world was forever changed._

_He had his eyes on the ground and some Twizzlers stuck in his mouth hands rubbing over a fried motherboard someone had asked him to fix. It required no effort from him and he got paid well, so it was a done deal._

_“Shit,” someone mumbled in front of him and Niall looked up at six feet of a lanky man with unruly brown hair and captivating green eyes._

_“Excuse me?” Niall questioned, swallowing the candy in his mouth._

_“Are you Niall Horan?”_

_“Uh-huh.”_

_“Come with me.” The other guy grabbed Niall’s arm and pulled him to a car a little way’s away. Niall wanted to feel wary and wanted to fight against this guy, but part of him felt like this was right, this was safe._

_“Are you Zayn Malik?” Niall blurted out suddenly._

_“Ha,” mystery man chuckled darkly. “I wish. No, I’m Harry Styles and you’re coming with me.”_

_The car was a black SUV with tinted windows. Harry put Niall in the back seat and drove through London to a building gated and huge._

_“What is this place?” Niall gaped at the magnificent columns._

_“This is the place you’ve been looking for.” Harry helped Niall out of the car and brought him straight down to Zayn._

_***_

_Later that night Niall tentatively knocked on Harry’s bedroom door, socked feet shuffling a little against the smooth wood._

_“Harry?” he stood in the doorway biting his lip._

_“Yes?” Harry looked up from the journal he was scrawling notes in and pulled off his reading glasses._

_“How did you know who I am? Zayn mentioned something about fate lines?” Niall gestured vaguely with his hand._

_Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes, “I can see and manipulate fate lines depending on the strength of them. I can also cut them off to kill people, among other things... Fate lines are each unique, certain colors mean certain things.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Red is probably the most well known, the red line of fate- the line of soulmates... According to everything I’ve seen and felt -- we’re soulmates.”_

_Niall shuffled further in the room and sat down on Harry’s bed, placing his hand on Harry’s heart. “I correct things, with my hands and sometimes I feel when things are broken and I instinctively want to touch them. I want to touch your heart. It’s been broken, but I want to fix it.”_

_***_

_That was the start of something wonderful and a year later they picked up Louis._

Niall gets up from the bench and wanders back down to his room. Harry has left his journal on his nightstand and his suit jacket from yesterday is slung over the back of their armchair.

“What are you doing, babe?” Harry steps out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

“Just thinking,” Niall mutters.

“I think I think I think you think too much,” Harry puts a hand on the back of Niall’s neck. “You corrected my broken heart, now fix yours.”

Niall takes in Harry’s eyes, they’re dark and underneath there are bags- he’s exhausted obviously. If it wasn’t for the shower, Niall’s fairly certain his normally bouncy hair would be limp and in need of a cut.

“Have you been sleeping?” he asks quietly.

Harry looks at him through his lashes. “Not as well as you would hope, I bet.”

“We never asked for this,” Niall whispers. “Why us? Why do we have to be the martyrs and the Christ figures? Why?”

“Because if it was easy, they would have put monkeys on this,” Harry smirks trying to lighten the mood.

Niall chuckles gently, “Well, tell them to give me my water- I’m taking five.”

Harry loses his towel and slips into a pair of sweats before cupping Niall’s chin. “We’re gonna be okay, right? We’re gonna do great things. I can feel it.” Harry doesn’t mention the way fate lines move, where they lead, what they mean. Maybe nothing specific for Niall or them, but…

“Can you feel this?” Niall trails his fingers down Harry’s side, raising goosebumps on the skin and making Harry grin.

“I can always feel that,” Harry purrs, he moves closer and pulls Niall toward their bed.

***

Calum’s heartbeat skyrockets as the boy in the laboratory begins to startle awake. Zayn watches the enigma closely and cracks his neck. This could get interesting fast.

The patterns on the boy’s skin swirl violently, changing origin and meaning. Zayn feels the waves of power radiating from him, he’s strong. Stronger than anyone here, even Harry who has been known to change someone’s fate in a pinch. Usually quite literally.

“Welcome to the world, boy.” He grins, hitting a few buttons. The kid shifts and brown eyes open, darting around the room quickly as his muscles contract and he looks for an escape point. His eyes fall on the staff in the corner of the room and before Zayn knows it, the staff is flying across the room into his hand. The power is suddenly palpable, crackling around this boy in waves, flowing off of him in sheets.

“Shit,” Zayn mutters. He buzzes Harry, sets up the extra safety precautions, raising his hands in a gesture that states that he’s not here to hurt this kid.

The kid puts his hand on the glass in a way that mimics the first time the main character of _Avatar_ did, only this time the glass buckles under his force and nearly shatters inward.

Zayn picks up his intercom. “It is advised that everyone remains in their rooms for the time being. Harry, Niall, I could really use you guys. Luke too, if you can manage.” Zayn seals in the lab, grabbing his gun- he’s preparing for what will inevitably be a trying, dangerous moment. Once that boys out who the hell knows what’s going to happen and Zayn wants to be prepared, more than prepared- he wants to know what the guy is going to do before he does it.

Brown eyes narrow at Zayn and with a final nod the kid claps his hands together and all of the electronic equipment flickers out. He breaks through the glass and hoists Zayn up by the collar.

“Who the hell are you?”

Back in his room Calum lets out a blood curdling shriek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Son, come check me out on [Tumblr](http://twitcamniall.tumblr.com/) and let me know what y'all think!


	5. Calum & Luke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's learn about Calum and Luke's past and we finally get a name for the kid in the lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [Dylan!](http://creepyblowjobs.tumblr.com/)   
> Next chapter goes back to the beginning, so yeah! :)

Calum’s knuckles are white where he’s gripping the edge of the table.

“Calm down.” Luke’s voice is gentle and his hands are soothing on Calum’s shoulders. Calum feels him trying to project an air of peace and better feelings than the ones Calum is picking up currently. “You have to calm down.”

Calum gives in to Luke’s touch and slowly feels the fight ebb out of him.

“What was it this time?” Luke’s voice is low, cautious.

“Just the kid in the lab again.” Calum sits down heavily. “He’s just really angry.”

“You’re okay now, though, right?” Luke takes his hand and traces light circles in the skin.

“Yeah,” Calum whispers. “It’s just, like, a fury I've never experienced before.”

“You’re doing okay. Promise.” Luke kisses his cheek. “I’ll be back; I have to run these down to Zayn... If he’ll listen.”

Calum holds his hand over his cheek as Luke leaves. His heart flutters in that way it always has since he got together with Luke.

_It happened on his thirteenth birthday. One moment he was fine, blowing out the candles on his cake, and then he could suddenly feel emotion swirling from every direction. Some powerful, others only coming in like wisps of a wave._

_“Mum?” Calum looked back his mother. She was giving him feelings of a happy/sad._

_“Yes, Cal?” Joy got down and pushed his hair back from his face._

_“Why are you so sad?”_

_“I’m not sad,” Joy chuckled, but Calum could see the sadness in her eyes and he could feel it coming off of her._

_He quirked a smile at her because as far as he knew, feeling this way was not normal. She cut up his cake and he sat on the porch with Luke while they ate it._

_Luke shrugged. “I dunno, maybe she’s sad ‘cause you’re getting older.”_

_“Yeah…” Calum trailed off and licked his fork. “Do weird things happen to you?”_

_“Depends on what you mean,” Luke stated pointedly, or as pointedly as an eleven year old could sound._

_Calum took his turn to shrug and got up. “I’m getting more cake. You want some?”_

_***_

_Luke learned what Calum meant by weird things happening to him on his own thirteenth birthday._

_See, he went to school and he knew that gravity was a thing and that’s why he didn’t float off the Earth and that’s why he fell off his bike sometimes, so when he was kicking stones in his driveway and listening to Calum laugh loudly at something Ashton said and one of the stones flew up into the air and didn’t come back down, he might have freaked out a little._

_“Calum!” Luke shouted and before he knew it Calum was pounding the pavement to get to him._

_“What? What happened?” Calum could feel the rolling waves of fear coming off of Luke._

_“Look.” Luke pointed at the stone and Calum felt his mouth go dry. After he spoke to Ashton and Michael, Calum had discovered that strange happenings were occurring to more people than just him. Ashton could make fire from just the air and Michael’s hair changed color depending on his mood, among other such physical changes._

_According to Ashton, there was the beginnings of a place for people like them in England if only they had a way to get there. Not to mention, they all needed their parents still, and two boys only a bit older than them wouldn’t fit the bill._

_“What does it mean, Calum?” Luke demanded and Calum clenched his jaw at the fear written in Luke’s eyes._

_“It means that as soon as we’re old enough, we’re going to England.”_

_***_

_The plane tickets were not cheap and all four boys had to learn to be thieves to collect enough for the fare._

_They left three days after Luke’s sixteenth birthday. Nothing could be done about it, they had to go._

_The notes to their families were minimal and only gave away the absolutely necessary information and Calum took Luke’s hand when they left because it was the only thing he knew how to do._

_***_

_Harry found them leaving the airport, explaining that their lines had called to him._

_“The facility is just outside of London, I think you’ll fit in wonderfully,” Harry explained and brought them to his SUV with a blond Irishman in the driver’s seat. “That’s Niall. I’m Harry. Welcome to our little world.”_

_His eyes flicked over each boy, emotions passed through him so quickly Calum couldn’t pick up just one. When Harry’s eyes ran over his face, however, he felt a cold sadness fill Harry for a moment. He didn’t want to know what it meant._

_***_

_Calum learned that Louis would always stress him out and that Luke kissed really nicely and that they had a knack for knowing things before other people, even Harry._

***

Luke walks down to the lab where Zayn is to give him the latest report on the state of the government when Zayn’s voice comes over the intercom urging people to stay in their rooms except Niall, Harry, and him. He shoves the papers in his back pocket and runs into the lab to find the kid that Harry got holding Zayn up by his collar.

“Hey!” Luke shouts. “Put him down!” He throws his hands away from his body, palms out, and the kid rises towards the ceiling. Suddenly he fixes Luke with a glare and shoots back down to the ground, energy crackling around him. Luke is a little surprised.

“Who--the--hell--are--you?” The kid enunciates each word carefully, and upon closer inspection Luke decides he’s probably around Zayn’s age, not so much of a kid really.

“I’m Luke Hemmings and I cancel gravity.” Luke draws himself up to his full height, which is taller than this guy but the guy still makes him feel kind of short just from his glare.

“Cute.” The guy quirks his mouth for a second before glaring at the people in the doorway. “Who are they?”

“Harry Styles. Liam, calm down.” Harry puts up a placating hand.

“How do you know my name?” Liam demands, staff slamming on the ground.

“I see fate lines. I know everything about you, and if you would calmly follow me I’ll explain everything.” Harry gestures for Liam to follow him, and miraculously he does.

Luke helps Zayn up and decides the papers can wait till tomorrow.

“Go ice that, chief,” Luke urges and Zayn shoots him a grateful look as he heads back to his room. Luke heads back to Calum and finds his boyfriend screaming on the floor, in the fetal position.

“Cal!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my [1D Blog](http://twitcamniall.tumblr.com) and my oneshot [Magnets!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1000669)
> 
> We're heading into the meat of things, this should be fun!


	6. One Line Out of Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [Dylan](http://shouldabeenablowjob.tumblr.com).

Harry watches Niall cautiously as he balances on the railroad track.

“Would you get down from there?” he hisses. “What if a train comes?”

“Is a train supposed to come, Harry?” Niall cocks his head, turning on his toes.

Harry sighs, fingers rubbing at his temples. “No.”

“Then why do I need to get down?”

Harry narrows his eyes at him. “Because I want you to.”

“But if I don’t actually have to, why should I?” Niall presses.

Harry goes to sigh again, but his eyes widen at the sight before them. “What’s that?”

Niall furrows his eyebrows and looks down the track, one hand held over his eyes. “Uh... A train wreck?”

“What?” Harry tends to panic when things don’t go as he planned, but fuck reading fate lines is hard and dammit he can’t know everything!

“We should probably check it out right?” Niall prompts gently. He understands the level of stress Harry places on himself.

Harry shakes himself. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”

Niall hops off the track and holds his hands up, ready and attentive. Harry sticks close behind him, little golden scissors burning hot and bright in his pocket.

“Hello?” Niall calls tentatively. Without warning, a violet line shoots into Harry’s vision, and he follows it quickly. “Harry!?”

Harry’s feet pound on the ground--he has to get to the end of this line, he just has to. He picks over the wreckage. Whatever caused this made the whole thing shatter. He's cautious not to get hurt, but he’s still desperate to get to the source.

“Harry!”

Harry ignores Niall’s cry and continues on his straightforward path until he finds the answer. A man about his age lays in a perfect circle of no wreckage with a staff near his hand.

“Harry!” Niall pants, finally catching up with him. “Who’s that?”

“I have no idea,” Harry whispers. “Can you feel the power radiating from him?”

“Yeah.” Niall listens for a few moments. “Completely fine, why isn’t he awake?”

“Again, no idea. Let me call Zayn.”

Niall watches over the boy as Harry arranges a helicopter pick up.

***

“What do you know about him?” Zayn questions while he hooks up monitors to the new kid.

“He’s your age, powerful, but not much else--the only line I can see is the one that led me to him, and once I got to him it faded,” Harry relays with a hint of disappointment in his tone.

“Well, don’t beat yourself up about it, we’ll learn soon enough.” Zayn pats Harry’s shoulder.

“Beating myself up, as you say, is the only thing I can do,” Harry sighs, letting out a heavy breath. “Calum…”

Zayn squeezes Harry’s shoulder with a determined look in his whiskey eyes. “Whatever happens, happens.”

“It’s easy to just go with it when you can’t see what’s around the corner,” Harry mutters.

“Logically, fate can’t exist, okay?” There’s the one point Zayn and Harry will never agree on. Harry is actual living proof fate exists, but Zayn is also actual living proof anything can be analyzed and solved with enough time.

“I’m going to see Louis.” Harry turns away from Zayn and stalks out of the room. This guy should be elementary by now, it’s simple reading him. If Harry could read him.

Louis’ room is away from the others and more heavily secured. His usual freak outs, panic attacks, and inability to touch makes him susceptible to harming other people so they placed him on the other side of the facility from the rest of the rooms.

Louis is pacing his room when Harry gets there, digging his fingers into his own arms and gnawing at his already ragged lower lip.

“He’s begging me to touch him, Harry! I can’t touch him, Harry!” Louis tugs at his own hair in a desperate attempt to relieve some of the ache.

Harry wants to reach out and hug Louis and promise that it’ll be okay, but touching Louis would be a bad idea, so he drops the hands that have instinctively come up and says, “Lou, you know what happened last time.”

“Of course I fucking know!” Louis sobs, hands scrabbling at his neck. “I watched Eleanor lose her mind! I made her lose her mind!”

“Why do you want to touch him?” Harry asks calmly, hoping the sound of his voice will calm Louis.

“He’s calling to me, beckoning me with-- ... with something!” Louis gestures wildly and Harry pulls out a silk handkerchief from his pocket, holding it out for Louis. “I can’t explain it! I just feel it!”

“Lou, please calm down or I will be forced to sedate you,” Harry states sternly.

Louis’ eyes go wide when he looks at Harry and he nods quickly, taking a few deep lungfuls of air.

“Now,” Harry instructs. “I want you to settle yourself and think this over, it’s getting late, you should sleep.”

Louis strokes his fingers over the silk, wishing it was human skin. Five years without touching someone is far too long.

“Goodnight, Louis,” Harry whispers, closing the door and locking it behind him.

Niall is standing off to the side, watching the hall as Harry finishes with Louis.

“His fate lines have changed,” Harry tells Niall.

“What do you mean?” Niall asks as he listens for any sound from Louis’ room, checking to see if he has successfully sobbed himself to sleep.

“His red line used to be severed.”

“And now?”

“It leads to the mystery kid.”

“Can fate lines do that?” Niall asks, raising both eyebrows. “I thought the point of fate was that it can’t be changed.”

“Do we really live in a normal time, Niall?” Harry asks, running his hand through his hair. “I think it’s the beginning of the end.”

Niall rubs the back of his neck; “I’m heading to bed--come whenever you want.” He kisses Harry’s cheek, hands lingering on his chest before he walks off, head down and thoughts calculating.

 

***Wake-Up***

Luke walks down to the lab where Zayn is to give him the latest report on the state of the government when Zayn’s voice comes over the intercom urging people to stay in their rooms except Niall, Harry, and him. He shoves the papers in his back pocket and runs into the lab to find the kid that Harry got holding Zayn up by his collar.

“Hey!” Luke shouts. “Put him down!” He throws his hands away from his body, palms out, and the kid rises towards the ceiling. Suddenly he fixes Luke with a glare and shoots back down to the ground, energy crackling around him. Luke is a little surprised.

“Who--the--hell--are--you?” The kid enunciates each word carefully, and upon closer inspection Luke decides he’s probably around Zayn’s age, not so much of a kid really.

“I’m Luke Hemmings and I cancel gravity.” Luke draws himself up to his full height, which is taller than this guy but the guy still makes him feel kind of short just from his glare.

“Cute.” The guy quirks his mouth for a second before glaring at the people in the doorway. “Who are they?”

“Harry Styles. Liam, calm down.” Harry puts up a placating hand.

“How do you know my name?” Liam demands, staff slamming on the ground.

“I see fate lines. I know everything about you, and if you would calmly follow me I’ll explain everything.” Harry gestures for Liam to follow him, and miraculously he does.

Luke helps Zayn up and decides the papers can wait till tomorrow.

“Go ice that, chief,” Luke urges and Zayn shoots him a grateful look as he heads back to his room. Luke heads back to Calum and finds his boyfriend screaming on the floor, in the fetal position.

“Cal!?”

***

Liam doesn’t trust Harry, Harry knows that, but he also knows Liam needs to trust him.

“What’s my mother’s name?” Liam demands.

“Karen.”

“Where have I lived?”

“You have been a nomad up until this point.”

“How did I end up in the train wreck?”

“Ah.” Harry sits back. “Why don’t you tell me that?”

Liam glares at him. “Why can’t you tell me?”

“I can’t get an entire reading on you,” Harry admits. “What are you?”

“Human.”

“How are you so powerful?”

“Ah.” Liam leans back, mimicking Harry. “I harnessed my power long before any of you knew what it even was that you had. I’ve been training with it since I was three years old. Does that answer your question?”

Harry contemplates his next move carefully. “What do you know about us? Obviously more than we know.”

“In case you weren’t aware, we signal the coming of the apocalypse. My mother knew which is why she got my trained, made me what I am. Of course, she... died... but because of her I am stronger than you can ever hope to be.” Liam’s eyes flash dangerously.

“Louis?”

Liam’s eyes drop and Harry knows he’s hit a tough spot. “I... He’s not broken, your soulmate was right. He uncovers truth, but in massive quantities so the human brain can’t handle it. He’s very powerful too.”

“Can you help him?”

“He can touch me.” Evidently Liam thinks that’s the end of the discussion because he gets up swiftly and exits the room. Harry is left reeling.

***

“Cal!?” For a terrifying moment Luke expects Calum to bleed out on their floor, but without warning his boyfriend snaps out of it and his eyes open. “Calum, what the hell was that?”

“Luke... I have no idea.” Calum shakes his head, breathing hard. “I’m okay now... Too many emotions at once, I think.”

“Don’t scare me like that,” Luke hisses, kneeling to pull Calum into a strong hug. Calum puts his arms around Luke and tries to ignore the budding sense of terror building in his bones.

***

“I can’t!” Louis shrieks, scrambling away from Liam. “I’m not supposed to touch!”

“Louis, please.” Liam’s voice is soft, pleading. “You can.”

Louis looks up, entranced by Liam’s words. Carefully, with shaking fingers he places a hand on Liam’s face.

“How?” he whispers, voice in awe.

“You’re not broken,” Liam insists and for one glorious moment, Louis believes him.

***

Zayn notices the advancement of troops too late. With Liam coming and waking up and him slowly fixing Louis, it slipped his mind.

“We have to prepare to fight them off,” he tells Harry and Harry sighs sadly. He’s always known. “Anything I should know?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Harry mouths, words nearly impossible to discern.

***

When the day finally comes Niall stays towards the back, ready to heal major wounds as quickly as possible. Zayn heads it all, a weapon he created himself in his hand. Harry at his right, scissors at the ready. Liam at his left, staff resting in his hand.

“You all need to die!” the head of the troops shouts.

Zayn doesn’t even give a signal before they’re attacking.

It’s bad. Harry’s scissors flash in the light of the sun and troops fall left and right. Liam wipes groups of them out with a single swipe of his staff, finishing them after Louis makes them fall to their knees with knowledge.

The problem is, not everyone is as fast or as skilled as them so Niall is also darting around the field, healing broken bones and bullet wounds as fast as he can. He’s too late.

Because near the back, just behind Luke, Calum falls. Blood pulses from invisible bullet wounds on his body, his legs crumple beneath him with broken bones he can’t have gotten on his own. He knows what’s happened to him.

“Luke!” he gasps out, voice nearly failing him and his sight going dark around the edges with the massive amounts of blood loss.

“Cal!” Luke turns to see him fall. “I’ll get Niall!”

“No.” Calum stops him with a mangled hand. “He--He can’t fix me. It’s... My empathy is physical now.”

“Calum, no, please!” Luke begs, falling to his own knees and pulling Calum to him, the pain is fading as his nerves fail.

Up near the front Harry severs the leader’s life line and the remaining troops scatter. Harry turns, fate coming true.

He jogs over as Calum dies in Luke’s arms.

“You always knew, right?” Luke sobs out. “You always knew that his entire life was leading up to this one moment, right? Everything’s he’s ever been was to get here.”

“We all die, Luke,” Harry simply states. He would like to mourn, but the war has just begun.

 

***Epilogue***

With the help of Liam, Louis becomes himself again. He feels again and he doesn’t need to hold onto life with such a tight grip. They leave the center shortly after Calum’s funeral, Liam taking Louis to harness his power properly.

Zayn runs again. Runs far and away till Harry can’t see his fate lines anymore. Till he’s nothing but a memory of a broken boy who couldn’t save his family, let alone the world.

Luke, Ashton, and Michael leave, heading back to Australia. It takes four more years for Luke to smile again.

***

“I’m leaving,” Niall murmurs as he watches the last remaining kids leave the facility. “I’m going out to find myself again.”

“But, your lines, they’re not--” Harry protests.

Niall smiles sadly at him. “Fate doesn’t really exist, Harry.”

***

Two years later, Harry’s little golden scissors snip one last white line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, we've made it! As you may have guessed I cut things short and kind of abrupt. I have lost interest in One Direction, so I'm no longer using my 1D blog. I wanted to finish this, but after three months of no notion on how to proceed I just threw it together and gave it to Dylan to finish beta'ing. He's amazing and is going to continue beta'ing for me, next on the agenda: a pretend boyfriends!sterek fic. If you ever have any questions or just want to talk feel free to hit me up on my [main blog](http://arsebuttock.tumblr.com).


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